Fushigi Yugi: The Next Cycle
by The Dog and The Cat
Summary: 100 years have passed in our world since Miaka and Yui closed the book. But the story never ends. Now its calling to an unlikely savior to end it once again. Currently working on chapter 3..
1. Chapter 1 First Meetings

_ Disclaimer: Koneko and Koinu do NOT own Fushigi Yugi and are making no profit whatsoever from this piece of mumbo jumbo. Copyrights and such belong to Yu Watase and all those other people who had a hand in making the series what it is today. WE LOVE YOU, YU WATASE!!!!!!!!!!!_

_We do however own Tsubasa, Vincent, and Rei-lin. _

_A/N: This story is supposed to begin some time after Miaka and Yui finally closed the book. In reality about 100 years have passed. In the book's reality, only about 10 years. The way we look at it, the book slowed it's time to prevent the deterioration of the story. Kind of like going into hibernation I guess you could say. And more about the second cycle, we like to think that it began with Yui summoning Genbu in the first OAV. _

_Next chapter will have information about family ties and such. Please review and let us know what you think! Maybe even let us know which seishi you want to see introduced first out of Chiriko, Mitsukake, Chichiri, and Nuriko? We look forward to those reviews!_

_-Koneko and Koinu (The Cat and The Dog)_

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_Prologue….._

_Within the Universe of the Four Gods there exists a one hundred year cycle. In every cycle four ordinary people are given a chance to make their dreams come true using the power of the god they are called to summon. Genbu, Byakko, Seiryu, and Suzaku- this order has existed before time itself came to be. Takiko Okuda, Suzuno Ohsugi, Yui Hongo and Miaka Yuki completed their cycle. _

_And so it begins again…_

_Three of the four gods have granted their power to their chosen._

_Only one remains._

_It begins…._

Red…light. Blinding in fact.

Red…surrounded by flames.

Red…the beautiful phoenix positioned before him.

Red…mesmerizing. Entrancing. He wasn't able to tear his eyes away.

A single sentence spoken before reality reclaimed him….

…FIND ME…

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Vincent sat up in his bed with a start, rubbing the side of his head sleepily amazed to find a thin sheen of sweat across his face and neck.

_/God, not another one. I'm never going to sleep good if they don't stop./_

He muttered obscene words as he glanced over at the alarm clock on his desk.

_/And its not even 7:00 yet!!/_

Vincent flopped back down on his stomach indignantly, burying his head into his pillow, groaning unhappily. He may never get back to sleep now. Oh well, may as well get up. His best friend and cousin, Tsubasa, would probably be waiting at the train station for him around 8:30, so why not get a head start?

Vincent pulled himself out of bed and stumbled around the room getting dressed. After finishing that, he stumbled out the door of his grandparents home and down the street only to realize he forgot one of his textbooks on the dresser. Grumbling angrily, he turned and stalked back to the house to reclaim the wayward book.

Finally reaching the train station in time to see Tsubasa nearly fall down the stairs as usual, Vincent called out to his friend who looked up grinning sheepishly.

"Ohayo Vin-kun! You're here awful early."

"Ohayo Basa-chan. Looks like you could use a hand there." Vincent smirked and held out his hand to the silver haired youth.

Tsubasa gripped his hand and was yanked up by the stronger boy. Vincent tossed a few locks of dark red hair from his face and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Tsubasa demanded.

"I swear Basa. You seemed to have gained some weight in the last week or so."

The younger boy make an indignant squeak and punched Vincent in the shoulder.

After doing so, he dashed onto the train. "I think you've gained some too!!! IN YOUR HEAD!!!"

Vincent followed him, his green eyes sparkling with mirth. Today seemed to be going pretty normal so far.

_/Except for that damn dream. I can't get it out of my mind./_

He stared thoughtfully out the window at the passing buildings practically in his own world until Tsubasa poked him in the arm.

"Oy, Vin-kun, are you okay? You keep staring off into space with this dreamy look in your eyes…"

Vincent laughed softly. "Don't worry Basa. I just had some problems sleeping last night. I should be okay."

Tsubasa went back to poking at his handheld. "If you say so.."

Vincent grinned and swiped away the gaming device from the other boys hands. "Well, I do say so, and this is a school stop so you need to put this away silly."

"Oh my god! No! Don't do that! I was just about to….beat…that part.." Tsubasa trailed off as defeat music began to emanate from the speakers.

Vincent cringed. "Sorry Basa. But you know the school rules. No form of entertainment whatsoever… or its demerits for you!"

Tsubasa slouched down, crossed his arms, and pouted. Obviously, he was making himself as visibly annoyed as he could at the older boy.

Vincent tucked the handheld into his bag and continued staring out the window until they finally reached the school drop off point.

And the day seemed to pass fairly normally until about one in the afternoon, when Vincent and Tsubasa walked into their history class. For the last week or so, they had been studying mythology and legends, and had reached the arc of Chinese legends. And their teacher had even promised a surprise today. A translated version of an ancient manuscript that reportedly had so much mystery and superstitions about it that it had literally been erased from modern history books.

As they sat down, Vincent's eyes were drawn to the desk. There was something funny about that book. Maybe all those weird tales that their teacher had told them about had some shred of truth in them. All legends had to start somewhere after all.

The instructor entered the room and the entire class rose to greet her. After that they were seated and the role was called by the class leader.

Once everything was ready for class to begin, the teacher explained that the book would be passed around so everyone could read and mark the fact that only three pages of the book were used. A girl spoke up in the second row that if the book was the basis of a religion, why is it so short.

Another student piped up before the teacher had a chance to say anything. "Because the story was never finished!"

The teacher smiled. "That's correct! The story was supposed to begin anew every time there was a new priestess. According to what has been found out about it, the book is said to write its own ending depending on the actions of its priestess." She then handed the book to a girl in the first row, who looked at the pages inquisitively, then passed it to the next person.

"So do we have any volunteers to read the text?"

As the book was slid onto Vincent's desk, he raised his hand with out even knowing why and told her that he would read.

He stared at the manuscript he held in his hands. "Wait. You all said 'priestess', right? Then.. why does it say 'young man'?"

The teachers eyes lit with unmistakable joy. "It seems the book may have taken a liking to you! Read it!"

Vincent cleared his throat and looked around the room with uncertainty. "Okay.. Here goes.."

"_Herein contains the tale of a young man and his quest to gather the seven constellations of Suzaku together. _

_And if you, the esteemed reader, should read to the story's end, the spell contained within this book shall bestow upon you the powers of the hero and grant your wish. _

_For indeed the moment the first page is turned, the story will become reality."_

Vincent chuckled. "Well, magic's not real so.." He slowly turned the first page of the Universe of the Four Gods.

The red light he had so often seen in his dreams engulfed the classroom, swallowing him up into a seemingly unending brilliant red void. A single note of a phoenix's call was all that was heard as he vanished from his reality.

The students stared in shock. The teacher couldn't hide her smile. Tsubasa leapt from his seat and ran to Vincent's desk, picking up the book and flipping it open.

The teacher's smile grew bigger. "Well Tsubasa, looks like you just volunteered to be our reader!"

Tsubasa looked up at her, horror-stricken. He finally managed to stammer out "Y…You're excited about this!?"

"Yes, I have to say that I am!" She chirped back.

"My best friend just got sucked into some god-forsaken book and who knows if we'll ever see him again and you all think it's fun and games!!" Tsubasa snapped.

The teacher coolly replied "He's a Sukunami. Every single book on the subject has been written by either someone with the last name of "Yuki" or "Sukunami". I think this was a little more than a mad scientist project Tsubasa. I truly believe this was destiny."

Tsubasa growled under his breath "You're a teacher. You're not supposed to believe in destiny." He looked down at the book that he held in his hands, watching as the text wrote itself out across the pages. He didn't like this book. It felt.. alive. Something just wasn't right about it.

"Well are you going to read, or not?" the teacher asked him.

He growled something else before sitting down in the chair and clearing his throat. Flipping back to the page that Vincent left off on, he began to read:

"_The young man slowly began to wake up after his hard landing left him unconscious……._"

Vincent sat up, head in his hands, groaning. "Gahhhh… what the hell did I hit?!"

He drew back a hand only to find blood on his fingers. Not a big enough gash to incapacitate him, but it still stung like all holy hell.

_/This is all that damn teachers fault./ _He looked around at his surroundings. _/I just HAD to hit the only damn rock in this stupid desert. Wow, sure is desolate. Might be hard to find civilization out here./_

He stood up, brushing sand off of his uniform, and looked to the sky. "DAMN BOOK!" he yelled to no one in particular. He sighed as his voice echoed and died away. Might as well start walking. Hopefully he would make it to somewhere before the sun set. Hopefully.

He had barely taken ten steps when the sound of horse hooves caught his attention. He turned to the noise and saw a hooded figure passing him on a chestnut brown horse. Obviously he was a traveler. Maybe they could help him find the nearest city? Never hurt to ask.

"Oy! Mister!"

The horse stopped and the hooded figure turned to look at him.

"Yeah, you! Help a guy out here? You can start by telling me WHERE THE HELL I AM."

What seemed like a young boy answered him.

"You don't know where you are?"

Vincent snorted. "Well duh. I wouldn't be asking if I did!"

"Do you have amnesia?" The rider trotted his horse over to him.

Vincent looked up and squinted trying to see beneath the hood. The angle of the sun made it difficult to locate any features, so he gave that up. God this heat was unbearable, especially while wearing his **black** school uniform. He undid the top button of the collar and pulled at it, trying to get some air to circulate. Sweat was already falling in small rivulets down the side of his face and neck.

"I know the head wound looks kind of funny, but I do know who I am. At least a ride to the next town then or wherever your going?"

The rider gaped at Vincent. _/How could he have gotten all the way out here and not remember any of it? That's a lot of desert to cross on foot./ _

The rider chuckled softly. "I suppose I could give you a ride to the next town. There's a sandstorm on its way that should be here in a few hours and I would hate to leave you out here. They're nasty this time of year."

A hand reached up to grasp the top of the hood and pulled it down to reveal a young girl, about his age with dark blue hair and sparkling amethyst eyes. Any other features were hidden under the light brown cloak she wore about her shoulders to keep the sand off.

_/Holy crap. I got that gender wrong./ _A slight flush crept to his face when he realized his mistake. He cleared his dry throat. "Well, my name's Vincent. And yours?"

"Heh, that's a weird name! Mine's Rei-lin." Her smile was bright and cheerful. "As for where you are, You're currently in the Konan empire."

Vincent stared. "I'm in a _what_?"

"Konan. You know, the southern most of the four kingdoms?"

Her incredulous stare was beginning to bother him.

_/Four kingdoms… Oh man.. That means I really am in that damn book "The Universe of the Four Gods"./ _

He looked up as she extended a hand to him. "I don't mind taking you to the next town. I hope you don't mind riding pillion!"

Vincent smirked. "Anything's better than this wasteland!" He gripped her hand and was hoisted onto the back of the horse, who shifted slightly to accommodate the extra weight.

When he was seated properly she flicked the reins and they began to traverse the leagues to the next town.

After riding in awkward silence for about ten minutes, she finally broke the tension between them.

"You know," she began, "Konan wasn't always like this."

Vincent clung to her back tightly, afraid of falling off. "What changed?"

"Well, there has been a serious drought these last few summers. The deserts grown to twice it's original size and most of the lakes and streams have dried to trickles or disappeared completely. I remember when I was little, there used to be plains of nothing but green grass as far as the eye could see. Now all we have is sand. The grass died out long ago as well as trees and other vegetation. It's been rough with no crops or water."

She noticed the weight against her back had increasing slightly while she talked. The idiot had fallen asleep during her speech! The nerve! She mumbled something under her breath and held tighter to the reins. This was going to be a loooong ride.

Hour after hour seemed to pass until she finally gave up trying to count.

Rei-lin frowned up at the sky as it began to grow darker. The sandstorm was faster than she had previously thought. She might not even make it to the next town before it hit.

She prayed to Suzaku for the best and urged the horse into a full gallop.

Mere moments later, the sandstorm was upon them in full blast, the roaring wind whipping her cloak around and sand stinging sharply where her skin was exposed to the desert air.

The horse stopped, neighed shrilly, and begin to dance in place in panic as its flesh was scraped by harsh, stinging desert sand. Rei-lin closed her eyes in an effort to protect them, more than certain that she probably wouldn't make it out alive. Then, to her shock, although the roaring winds were still loud in her ears the sand had stopped tearing at her skin. She was even able to bring her horse under control again, although its ears were now flat against its head. It was not happy one bit. And she couldn't blame it.

Upon looking up, she discovered that she was encased in a red shield, just big enough for the small party to be shielded from the desert storm.

Rei-lin glanced back at her passenger, who was still asleep, yet was glowing a faint reddish color.

_/Still asleep after this near-death experience? He's got some balls. It has to be him generating this shield. I wonder who he is really.. I mean, he couldn't be IT. Could he?/_

The sandstorm raged around them for a few more hours, then died down until the desert was calm and placid once more. Then, as if nothing had ever happened, Vincent woke and the shield around them dissipated with a faint 'whoosh'. Yawning sleepily and rubbing at his eyes, he inquired,

"Why did we stop?"

Rei-lin stared.

"Do you have no idea what you did??" She said, her eyes wide with surprise.

"I did something?" Vincent replied, just as baffled as she was, his head tilted to one side.

"Yes.. you.. I mean.. Well, just a short while ago the sandstorm caught up with us and we were engulfed in it. Then, out of nowhere, this reddish aura covered us and it was coming from you because you were glowing too!"

"Wait. I was _glowing_?"

"Yes, Vincent. You were glowing."

"No wait! Seriously! **GLOWING**?"

"Yes, dammit!" She fought the urge to cuff him.

"I don't glow. I have no mystical magical freaky powers. I. Don't. Glow."

"Well, if you don't have any powers, then what did you do?"

"I did nothing!"

"Then what the hell are you anyway??"

Vincent whispered softly, "I'm really not so sure myself.."

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	2. Chapter 2 Journey's Beginning?

**The Sukunami's**

**Miaka Yuki and Taka Sukunami **

**Hikari Sukunami -brother and sister-> Akaino Sukunami -married-> Chihiro Inoue**

**Kizeki Sukunami (son of Akaino and Chihiro) -married-> Melissa Mitsumo **(American born, Japanese raised)

**Vincent Sukunami (son of Kizeki and Melissa) **(age 17)(father deceased, mother's location is unknown)

**The Yuki's**

**Keisuke Yuki -married-> Risa Natsume**

**Yuuri Yuki (son of Keisuke and Risa) -married-> Taiki Kajiwara**

**Seimei Yuki (son of Yuuri and Taiki) -married-> Tsugimi Kiryu **

**Tsubasa Yuki **(age 17)

_As promised, the family tree that we so meticulously planned. (actually we just plugged in names we knew and thought up random names for the question marks….) and it was in a better format.. but screwed it up when I uploaded it. /sad/ Oh wells. _

_Ha-ha, so we kind of half-assed that one a bit. But Tsubasa and Vincent are cousins, which makes us overly zealous and warm and fuzzy inside!! (what?!)_

_And we know that a male priest in place of a priestess is kind of odd. But we wanted something that nobody had tried yet, and if you remember in the second part of the manga and OAV 2, Taka kind of summoned Suzaku with Miaka. Soooooo…. In essence we thought it would be possible and Vincent was born from this theory. _XD

_The Disclaimer that was in chapter one still is in effect here. We don't own the series, blah, blah. All OC's do belong to us though. Love it or hate it? Drop us a comment! It might help our self-esteem. (sniff…)_

_Oh, and whoever recognizes Taiki Kajiwara's last name gets a cookie in the next chapter. Or an honorable mention, your choice._ xD

_-Koneko (The Cat)…(currently listening to: Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden: Towa no Hana)_

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"I hate this desert." Rei-lin heard from behind her.

"I am freaking BAKING. And if I take off any more, I'll be naked!"

Vincent had, indeed, stripped down to nothing but his uniform pants and unbuttoned white shirt which stuck in some places due to sweat and hung loose in others.

Rei-lin laughed. "Well, for someone who says he's not used to this kind of climate you are doing exceptionally well." _/Even though you seem a little bit too built for someone who hasn't had any weaponry training nor horseback riding lessons../ _She thought to herself.

He snorted as he fanned himself with his hand. "Are you kidding me? I'm swimming in my own sweat! I mean, seriously, how are you not burning up?!"

"Quite a few years of living in these conditions do that to you I suppose." She shifted slightly in the saddle to relieve some of the pressure on her back, which was now thoroughly soaked in the boy's sweat. "Gross. You're even dripping on me." she said with a groan.

"Well, sorry. If I didn't have to ride behind you, I wouldn't." He stuck his tongue out at the back of her head. "So how far away did you say this town was?"

"About four more hours."

"Damn."

"I agree."

--------------------------------

(four hours later)

"You might want to get dressed, we're almost to town." Rei-lin said to the zoned out idiot behind her.

"Huh?" He snapped back to reality.

"Very intelligent response, Vincent." She said while smiling to herself.

He frowned. "Shaddup."

Vincent leaned back and began to button up his shirt, cursing slightly when he would miss the holes. He quipped, "Well, since I don't really sunburn I should get a hell of a tan out of this."

She stopped the horse. "We're here!"

He peered around her shoulder. "Wow, kinda small but nice!"

"If you think this is nice you should see the capital where the palace is." Rei-lin said while she steered the horse into the town. "It's quite literally ten times this size. You can get lost if your not used to it."

"Whoa. Sounds like it's huge. But we not going to be going to the capital, are we? You only said to the next town."

Rei-lin smiled. "If you are what I think you are, then yes, we are going to the capital." They stopped in front of an inn.

It was a simple building, with a few potted plants that seemed more dead than alive and a restaurant and inn on the inside.

She jumped out of the saddle and landed softly on the ground.

Vincent slid down and landed with a heavy thud behind her.

"Not very good at that are you?" she said, trying to stifle a giggle.

He sighed, rubbing his butt, "I told you I've never ridden a horse before. God my butt is sore!"

Rei-lin laughed. "You go wait inside while I go take care of the horse, okay? Try not to look _too_ suspicious."

"Sure whatever you say." He said, waving his hand nonchalantly. He muttered as he walked into the building, "And these damn clothes don't help either. They're stifling!"

Vincent visibly sighed as he walked into the inn. The air was about ten degrees cooler in the shade and the sweat on his face and neck instantly cooled to a chilling temperature. He was in a state of pure bliss and was so relieved that he didn't notice that activity had halted in the restaurant as everyone turned to stare at him.

Happily ignorant of the situation, he claimed a table, and his face fell forward until his forehead rested on the top of it.

_/Ahhhhhh, this must be what heaven feels like…/ _

He stayed like this for a short while longer before he noticed how eerily silent the room was. As he looked up to see what the problem was, the people jumped as if startled and hurriedly went back to what they had been doing, stealing short glances at the young man sitting innocently at the table.

Vincent shifted nervously in his seat. Jeez, could they make him feel any less welcome? He hoped Rei-lin would make it back soon. This was uncomfortable.

He smiled as someone brought him a menu, then frowned as she backed away as far as she could then skittered to the back of the restaurant, never once looking back.

_/Wow, some service. Not even a "Hi! How are you doing!"?/_

Curious, he read over the contents of the slip of paper at all of the different dishes that were served here.

"So much rice!" He said quietly, "Doesn't anything else grow?"

"Not much. Rice is pretty much the only crop Konan can afford in abundance right now."

Vincent jumped at least three inches from his seat and turned to see Rei-lin smiling down at him, a package tucked under one arm.

"Gah! Don't do that! You scared the daylight out of me!" He put his hand over his heart as an exaggerated movement, which caused her to softly laugh as she sat down next to him.

"Soo.. What's in the package? You said you were just going to put up the horse!"

She snatched the menu from him after setting down the parcel next to her.

"Well, you said you needed something else to wear, right?"

"Yeah, but.."

"So I got you something from one of the shops while I was out."

"Out? You went to the stable behind the inn! How far 'out' did you go?" Vincent said, frowning at the cat-in-the-cream expression on her face.

"Ha-ha, my secret." Rei-lin grinned, then stood up.

"HEY! CAN WE GET SOME SERVICE OVER HERE, OR WHAT?" She screamed at a passing waitress who stammered an apology and rushed off to send someone over.

About three servings and ten minutes later, Rei-lin looked over to Vincent.

"I already have our room ready, do you want to try on your new outfit?"

Vincent shrugged in reply. "I guess we can see if you got my sizes right." He teased.

As she got up she cuffed him on his head. "Alright you. If they don't fit then you're just screwed because I'm not going back."

Vincent rubbed at his head, whimpering quietly as he followed her up the stairs to their room.

When they reached their destination, she flopped onto one of the two beds and flung the package onto the other. "Okay, you get to open it! Don't say I never gave you anything!"

As sarcastically as he possibly could he replied, "Oh, thank-you Rei-chan!! How could I ever repay you!!?"

"Oh, there are ways."

He grinned stupidly, crossing his arms loosely with his back to her. "Like with my body? Ewwww, pervert."

He felt something hit him in the back of the head. "Just try it on you smart-ass."

"Better than a dumb-ass.." He murmured under his breath as he tore into the package.

Inside was a scarlet and crème colored-colored tunic, complete with matching pants, shoes and even a sash for his waist.

He breathed in sharply. The material had the look of silk, but as he touched it, it proved to be something more akin to cotton. Such beautiful handiwork had to of cost a fortune!

Vincent pulled out the outfit and laid it out on the bed, then stared at it with a puzzled look on his face.

"What's wrong?" asked Rei-lin from the other side of the room.

"I can't figure out how to put it on…" He replied sheepishly. "I've never worn any kind of traditional clothes like this before." Vincent felt his face grow warm with embarrassment as she laughed and hopped off the bed toward him.

"Okay, I'll show you. But I'm only going to show you once, so pay attention!"

He nodded as she laid out how the outfit was supposed to be worn, and how to put it on.

"Do you need me to help you, or do you want me to turn around?" She asked.

He just knew she was laughing at him on the inside. "I'll try it myself." He said, pouting slightly without meaning to.

Rei-lin giggled and turned the other way. "Just tell me when your done!"

Vincent struggled and fought with the garments until he finally got them situated on his frame correctly. He then tied the black sash around his waist and slipped the shoes onto his feet. Moving his arms side to side, he noticed that she had gotten his size practically perfect.

"Okay," he said, "How do I look?"

Rei-lin turned to look at Vincent, and nearly squealed with happiness. "Oh, it looks so good on you! I knew it would look great with your complexion!" _/Not to mention that he's kind of cute when he's not being annoying../_

Vincent smiled. "You really think so?"

He flopped onto his bed. "So once I get some money, how much do I owe you for this outfit? It looks like it's expensive."

She flopped down onto hers. "Nah, you don't have to pay me anything!"

"But when we were riding, you said we were strapped for cash! I owe you money, and I will pay you back."

"Really Vincent, don't worry about it! Consider it a gift from a friend."

Vincent frowned. "You did pay for it… didn't you Rei-lin?"

There was no response from the other side of the room.

"Rei-lin…"

The silence continued.

"You sneaky little thief, you!"

Rei-lin, who couldn't hold back any longer, burst into laughter.

"What?? It's that shop owner's fault for being so lazy and not watching his store! He was asking for it!"

Vincent sighed.

"Rei-lin, what exactly do you do for a living?"

She turned on her bed to face him. "I'm a thief of course!"

He frowned. _/I always seem to be mixing up with low-lives…/_

His thoughts were interrupted by her speaking. "Actually, I'm traveling because I'm looking for someone. The group that I'm with is threatening to disband because really and truly there's no one to steal from anymore. Konan's hard times mean that even criminal groups are breaking apart and going their separate ways. But me and a few other people there don't want to see that happen so I volunteered to scour Konan for our leader who went traveling with one of his friends about six months ago."

"And no luck yet?" Vincent inquired.

"Not in the slightest." She said with a sigh.

"Well, maybe you might find him in the capital that you keep insisting I need to go to." He replied.

When he got no response, he looked over to find Rei-lin curled up on her side, fast asleep.

Vincent frowned. "Maybe I'll ask her in the morning." He said with a small laugh as he undressed from his new outfit and went to sleep himself.

"_The young man turned and to his surprise his companion was already asleep. So, he soon retired as well and slid into the world of his troubling dreams."_

Tsubasa closed the book, then looked back up at the rest of the class. "I'm not reading anymore." He stated firmly.

"Why did you stop Tsubasa?" The teacher inquired. "It was obviously getting to an interesting part."

Tsubasa looked at the rest of the students. Most of the girls in the class had gathered in the desks around him, some paying rapt attention and some gabbing about Vincent and his seemingly new love interest.

"I'm not reading anymore." Tsubasa repeated. "His dreams are too personal."

One of the girls from a group to his left giggled. "Why, are they _naughty_ dreams?" Her entire group burst into a fit of giggles.

He ground his teeth in an effort to not yell at them. "No. They're nightmares. He told me that he's been having them lately and that they get worse every night."

At his last words, the bell rang signaling the end of history class and the end of the school day itself. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else to him, Tsubasa grabbed up the book, shoved it in his bag, and dashed out the door without another word. The last thing he heard before he ran out of the hallway was the teacher screaming something incoherent from her classroom. He didn't care what she had to say. This was all her fault. Would he even see Vincent again?

Besides, he was a Yuki. The book in a strange way belonged to him. Didn't his family research it all those years? This wasn't just about Vincent. He knew he was also a big part of it no matter how much he didn't want to be.

After several train rides, he finally found himself in front of Vincent's grandparents' house. Not even bothering to knock, he opened the door and closed it behind him, barely giving himself enough time to kick his shoes off at the threshold before he was in the living room, where they were sitting and conversing with a friend they hadn't seen in several weeks.

They looked up as he entered the room. "Ah! Tsubasa-kun! Nice to see you again! We would like you to meet-"

"Please forgive me for interrupting you." Tsubasa started, "I really must speak with you alone Mr. and Mrs. Sukunami." He walked into the kitchen to wait for them to follow.

After apologizing for Tsubasa's rude behavior, the guest eventually took their leave, promising to meet them for lunch in a few days. Vincent's grandparents then made their way to the kitchen where Tsubasa sat at the table with The Universe of the Four Gods in front of him.

Akaino's face turned serious when he saw the book lying on the table.

"Where did you get that book."

Tsubasa sighed, motioning for them to have a seat, then told them of how their history teacher had brought it to class and how Vincent read from it and was pulled into the story.

He nodded with what he was telling him, not hardly believing it. So the book was still around after all.

"And.." Tsubasa paused. "I would like to leave the book here in your hands while I try to find some more information on it."

Akaino smiled. "I know more about that book than probably anyone does. I would have like to say that you should have asked your grandfather, Yuuhi, if he hadn't of passed already."

Tsubasa lowered his head. "Yes, I would have gone to Grandfather first if he was still with us. But we must go by what notes are left over from my great-grandfather Keisuke and what you still remember about it."

Akaino nodded. "If I remember correctly, the book should have taken a priestess in, so why would it take Vincent?"

"It's taken him as a priest, in lieu of a priestess." Tsubasa replied. "As for why, I don't really know. From what I've read out of it already, Konan has been suffering from extremely harsh summers that have made the deserts grown to twice their size and now because of that the entire government system faces collapse internally because the people are suffering and dying and basically giving up the hope of living all together."

"How horrible.." Vincent's grandfather murmured.

"Yes, it is terrible. So apparently the book has pulled him in to be its new savior despite him being a male. Because if you look at it, he happened to be there at the right moment to open the book and someone in his bloodline had already summoned the beast god once.."

"Actually, If I recall, my father, Taka, had also summoned Suzaku with my mother."

"So then he _was_ the best suited for the job!"

As if in response to his statement, the book began glowing a faint red color. Tsubasa looked down and frowned.

"What is it?" Akaino asked him.

"I believe Vincent has woken up in the book." He replied.


End file.
